Take your time, it's not like lives are at stake or anything

NATO is now saying that they will provide support for a U.N. mission in Darfur. Not actual troops or anything crazy like that. This is hardly worth the risk to Western soldiers! That's why God made Bangladeshis. But if the U.N. force should get a mandate and needs moral support, NATO will be right behind them.

NATO Secretary-General De Hoop Scheffer said he was "quite sure that when that question comes that the NATO allies will stand ready to support that mission in Darfur." Wow, "quite sure" that they will be able to provide some kind of support if given the chance. That's commitment!

Of course, it is all meaningless anyway, since the government in Khartoum says they will continue to oppose the presence of non-African troops in Darfur. And since it has taken three years to get NATO agree in principle to provide support, I'm not holding out hopes that someone is going to start getting tough with Sudan now.